Crime: Domestic Violence

Baroness Howe of Idlicote: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, under the terms of the reducing bureaucracy pilot on domestic violence in Hampshire, it is intended that police officers be given discretion to complete domestic violence, stalking and honour-based crime risk assessment forms.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there are any plans to run a reducing bureaucracy pilot on domestic violence in Gwent or any other police areas.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The intention of the domestic abuse pilot is to improve police officer assessment of risk when attending domestic abuse incidents. The aim is for officers to exercise informed professional judgement in discharging their duties.
	There are no plans at present to run a pilot in Gwent. The Metropolitan Police Service is likely to be involved in a future pilot.

Cycling

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment have they made of the success of their Cycling City Ambition programme; and whether they will consider expanding the programme in order to increase the number of cyclists on United Kingdom roads.

Earl Attlee: In February bids were invited from Core Cities and from National Parks for Cycling Ambition Grants, to be used to support a step-change in cycling levels. Bidding closed on the 30 April and an announcement on successful applicants will be made as soon as possible. As set out in the published guidance, the Department for Transport expects the successful promoters to evaluate the impact of their strategies and to promulgate them to other authorities to spread the benefits.

Cycling

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review their guidance on cycle-friendly planning and design, in conjunction with local authorities and other partners, to ensure that opportunities to improve cycling conditions are incorporated wherever possible into highways, traffic, planning schemes and all planned road maintenance work.

Earl Attlee: The Department for Transport is continually reviewing whether its guidance and policy framework for cycle-friendly planning and design is fit for purpose and updates can be made if it is appropriate to do so. Current guidance for local authorities on providing for cyclists can be found in Cycle Infrastructure Design (Local Transport Note 2/08). It is available to view at:
	http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/local-transport-notes/ltn-2-08.pdf
	Last year we updated the guidance in Shared use routes for pedestrians and cyclists (Local Transport Note 1/12) and this can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/9179/shared-use-routes-for-pedestrians-and-cyclists.pdf

Cycling

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place between the Department for Transport and the Department for Communities and Local Government on ensuring that cycle facilities, including cycle parking, and other improvements to cycling conditions are built into the planning and design of new developments and related transport infrastructure.

Earl Attlee: The Government is committed to supporting cycling. The National Planning Policy Framework includes the promotion of cycling. The Government is in the process of revising our planning for transport guidancedocuments (Travel Plans & Transport Assessments/ Statements). These will set out more clearly our recommendations for how local authorities should considermore active forms of transport, including cycling, in any new development. The Departments of Transport and Communities and Local Government, at Official and Ministerial level, meet to discuss how cycling and walking can best be accommodated in Planning guidance when the need arises. For instance Norman Baker, Minister for Cycling, met with Don Foster, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government on 7 February.

Cycling

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to allocate funding for the Highways Agency to initiate a programme to improve the convenience and safety of cycle movement along and across the Agency’s road network.

Earl Attlee: In June 2012, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the Hon Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning), met with the Agency’s Chief Executive, Graham Dalton, to discuss cycling provision across the Agency’s road network.
	Following a request from the Minister to investigate cycling hot-spots, the Agency worked with Sustrans to consider one hundred locations across our network. Of these locations, the Agency and Sustrans agreed a prioritised list of twenty locations for improvement on the Agency’s network based on those which should most improve the connectivity, accessibility and safety
	of cyclists. We have invested £180,000 in feasibility studies for the twenty sites and considered the affordability of potential cycling improvement schemes.
	The feasibility studies have now concluded, and recommend £4.5m worth of improvement schemes, which, inter alia, will result in real benefits for cyclists and other non-motorised users. The Agency will be designing and delivering these cycling schemes over this, and in future, financial year(s).
	We also intend to investigate further locations during this year in conjunction with the Cyclists’ Touring Club (CTC), Sustrans and British Cycling with a view to developing a substantial programme of improvement works for future years.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of research by the Institute of Psychiatry, at King’s College London, and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association regarding the risks of intellectual impairment to children born following IVF treatments for male infertility; whether they intend to ensure that those seeking such treatments are aware of that research; and what action they intend to take in response to it.

Earl Howe: I refer the noble Lord to the Written Answer I gave on 15 July 2013, Column: WA87.
	It is a requirement of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended, that patients are provided with full information about the treatment that they are proposing to undergo, including any risks or side effects that may be associated with it.

Employment: Work Capability Assessments

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost to the Department for Work and Pensions of appeals against work capability assessments undertaken by Atos in (1) 2010, (2) 2011, (3) 2012, and (4) 2013.

Lord Freud: The costs to the Department for Work and Pensions for all activity relating to appeals against the Work Capability Assessments were:
	April 2012 to March 2013 - £17.1m
	There is no data available prior to April 2012.

Energy: Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Lord Donoughue: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the mean residential time of anthropogenically emitted carbon dioxide in the simulated atmospheres of the general circulation models that are run by the Met Office.

Baroness Verma: Carbon dioxide does not have a mean residence time in the atmosphere as there are a range of processes that exchange carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and other carbon reservoirs, operating on a wide range of time-scales. An indication of residence time can be seen from experiments using the Met Office Hadley Centre's Earth system model, HadGEM2-ES, in which for the current climate, the fraction of a pulse of carbon dioxide remaining in the modelled atmosphere after 20 and 100 years is 62% and 45% respectively1. This compares closely with other models used in the experiments in the paper referenced.
	1 Joos et al. 2013, Carbon dioxide and climate impulse response functions for the computation of greenhouse gas metrics: a multi-model analysis. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2793-2825. doi:10.5194/acp-I 3-2793-2013.

Energy: Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Lord Donoughue: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere over the globe in the most recent year for which figures are available is anthropogenic.

Baroness Verma: Latest published assessments of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, collated by the Global Carbon Project, suggest that anthropogenic sources represent about 6% of total CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. However, although natural CO2 emissions are much larger than those from anthropogenic sources, the fluxes between natural CO2 sources and sinks are essentially in balance within the carbon cycle and the impact of anthropogenic emissions is such that they have been responsible for the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration since pre-industrial times. This is the main driver of long-term global temperature rise.
	1
	Le Quéré et al, 2013. The global carbon budget 1959-2011. Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 5, 165-185. doi: 10.5194/essd-5-165-2013.

Energy: Research

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the European Commission to exclude research grants into renewable energy research in the United Kingdom from state aid rules.

Baroness Verma: Research and development is covered under the existing EU General Block Exemption Regulation which exempts
	measures from state aid notification requirements. The Commission is currently consulting on revision of the General Block Exemption Regulation as part of its work on state aid modernisation; the draft revised Regulation continues to cover research and development. The UK will be submitting its response to the consultation in due course.

Energy: Research

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there have been any cases where they have been prevented from assisting research into renewable energy sources in the United Kingdom because of European Union state aid rules.

Baroness Verma: The Government is not aware of any cases where assistance for research into renewable energy sources has been prevented because of European Union state aid rules.

Energy: Research

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much aid they have paid, in the last three years for which figures are available, to companies or public bodies conducting research into tidal and wave energy in the United Kingdom.

Baroness Verma: Government made £47.42m in expenditure, in the form of aid, to support research into tidal and wave energy, in the United Kingdom, in the years 2010/11—2012/13. In addition, Government made direct investments to develop offshore testing facilities, such as Wavehub, in the South West of England.
	
		
			 Funding organisation 2010/11 (£m) 2011/12 (£m) 2012/13 (£m) 
			 Research Councils UK 8.04 2.38 4.28 
			 Energy Technologies Institute* 2.34 3.42 3.30 
			 Technology Strategy Board 3.50 4.19 3.29 
			 Department of Energy and Climate
			 Change 12.6 - 0.08 
			 Total: £47.42 26.48 9.99 10.95 
		
	
	* The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is a public-private partnership. 50% of the ETI's funding is received from the Department for Business and Innovation's (BIS's) sponsored Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and Research Councils UK (RCUK). The figures provided only represent the public contribution to the ETI for expenditure on tidal and wave energy.

Government Departments: Staff

Lord Adonis: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the comment by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, in the Financial Times of 10 July that “half of our top management have had high profile careers in business or higher education”, what senior business and higher education
	experience is possessed by the Permanent Secretary and the seven directors-general of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has a proven track record of blending civil service, business and academic experience in its top team.
	Before joining BIS in 2009 Director General Finance & Commercial Howard Orme held a number of global and international leadership roles in senior strategy, planning, and analysis with Allied Domecq and Unilever. He is a Fellow Chartered Management Accountant.
	Before joining the civil service, Tera Allas, Director General Strategy, Analysis & Better Regulation, worked for 10 years at McKinsey & Company, Inc., co-leading McKinsey’s microeconomics practice and advising major organisations on industry dynamics, business unit strategy, corporate finance and regulatory strategy. Prior to McKinsey, Tera worked at a commercial bank and at the Bank of Finland.
	Mark Russell, Chief Executive of the Shareholder Executive, joined BIS in 2004, following a career in corporate finance. He was a partner in the corporate finance departments of KPMG in London and Frankfurt. Mark is also a non-executive director of London and Continental Railways Limited and Eurostar International Limited, and chairs Eurostar’s audit committee.
	Sir John O’Reilly, Director General Knowledge & Innovation, was previously Vice Chancellor at Cranfield University and spent five years as Chief Executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. An engineer by training he has previously held appointments in industry (e.g. with BT plc) and academia (University of Essex, University College of North Wales, and University College London as Chair of Telecommunications). He served as President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (now the Institution of Engineering and Technology), is a Fellow and former member of Council of the Royal Academy of Engineering and was knighted in 2007 for his contributions to science.
	This business and academic experience is complemented by the extensive public sector expertise on the Board. For example, Permanent Secretary Martin Donnelly has worked at senior levels in the Treasury, Cabinet Office, Home Office and FCO as well as on secondment to the European Commission, French Finance Ministry and OFCOM. He has led a range of negotiations in the G8 and EU on business and regulatory issues.
	All the experienced career civil servants on the Board have either worked beyond Government or have undertaken secondments with business and all have close links with business and higher and further education stakeholders.
	The BIS senior management team are supported by five Non-Executive Board Members: Sir Andrew Witty (CEO, GlaxoSmithKline), Dalton Philips (CEO, WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC), Prof Dame Julia King (Vice Chancellor, Aston University), Dale Murray CBE (Angel Investor and Non-Executive Director, Sussex Place Ventures) and Alan Aubrey (CEO, IP Group PLC).

Guantanamo Bay

Lord Harries of Pentregarth: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made on the release of Shaker Aamer from Guantanamo Bay.

Baroness Warsi: Mr Aamer’s case remains a high priority for the British Government and we continue to make clear to the US that we want him released and returned to the UK as a matter of urgency. On the 17 June the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), raised Mr Aamer’s case with President Obama in Northern Ireland. The Prime Minister later wrote to President Obama reaffirming the importance the UK places on the request for Mr Aamer’s release. Notwithstanding the British Government’s best endeavours, any decision regarding Mr Aamer’s release remains in the hands of the US Government.

Health: Cancer Drugs Fund

Lord Turnberg: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 25 June (WA 110), whether their commitment to protect patients receiving treatment through the Cancer Drugs Fund extends (1) to new patients requiring cancer treatment arising after the end of the Fund, and (2) to existing patients who have recurrent but not ongoing need for treatment previously received through the Fund.

Earl Howe: In the context of developing new pricing arrangements for branded medicines, we are exploring ways in which new patients can continue to benefit from innovative cancer drugs at a cost that represents value to the National Health Service.
	We understand from NHS England that if a patient is receiving a drug through the Cancer Drugs Fund, they can continue to receive that drug as long as their oncologist considers they have a clinical need and are benefiting from the treatment.

Health: Diabetes

Lord Morris of Aberavon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current rate of increase per year in children suffering from type 1 diabetes.

Earl Howe: The information requested is not collected.

Health: Osteoporosis

Lord Quirk: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 12 July (WA 203), what assessment they have made of the model recommended by the International Osteoporosis Foundation and the National Osteoporosis Society for the provision of fracture treatment by specialist nurses.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 2 July (WA 203), what assessment they have made of the adequacy of fracture liaison service provision in the National Health Service.

Earl Howe: Responsibility for determining the overall national approach to improving clinical outcomes from healthcare services, including fracture liaison services (FLS), lies with NHS England.
	We understand from NHS England that the model recommended by the International Osteoporosis Foundation and the National Osteoporosis society has been assessed as being best practice and is being promoted.
	NHS England is aware that the provision of good FLS is not uniform across the United Kingdom and is working with clinical commissioning groups to support them to develop appropriate local services. It will be for the National Clinical Director for Major Trauma, Chris Moran, working with the National Osteoporosis Society, to consider how to further promote best practice and treatment.

NHS Leadership Academy

Baroness Uddin: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to promote diversity on (1) the NHS Leadership Board, and (2) the Advisory Board of Public Health England.

Earl Howe: We understand the noble Lady may be referring to the programme board of the NHS Leadership Academy. The NHS Leadership Academy programme board is made up of the Chief Executives and Managing Directors of its key national stakeholder bodies as well as representatives from a range of other organisations that include National Health Service providers and commissioners. The representatives that currently sit on the programme board were nominated by their respective organisations.
	In relation to Public Health England's Advisory Board, we appointed four Non-Executive Members in April 2013. They each bring to this role a great range of experience.
	We will shortly advertise for further candidates to enhance the expertise available to Public Health England.
	We aim to ensure that, as far as possible, the Advisory Board provides an appropriate gender balance and representation from ethnic minority and disability backgrounds.

Office for National Statistics

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to halt or reduce the collection or publication by the Office of National Statistics of data on smoking, drinking, teenage pregnancy or infant mortality.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, Director General for ONS, to Lord Beecham, dated July 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question, asking Her Majesty's Government whether they have plans to halt or reduce the collection or publication by the Office of National Statistics of data on smoking, drinking, teenage pregnancy or infant mortality (HL1553).
	Most of ONS's statistical outputs are required by legislation and the budget settlement ensures that ONS can continue to meet these legal obligations and produce the majority of its other statistics. However, some cuts will still be necessary. Now that the settlement is known, ONS is preparing a public consultation, to begin within the next month, on potential areas where outputs might need to be reduced, The level of output reduction will be well below the options shown to government departments in April and will be published when the consultation begins. This will be a 12 week consultation available through the 'About ONS' section of our website.

Public Bodies

Baroness Gould of Potternewton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the barriers they are experiencing in ensuring diversity of appointments to public bodies, as reported in the Commissioner for Public Appointments' Public Appointments Diversity Strategy; and what plans they have to tackle those barriers.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Commissioner publishes diversity statistics annually and the latest figures can be found on his website at http://publicappointments commissioner.independent.gov.uk/
	This is also the first year that the Government has published its own statistics on the gender diversity of public appointments. The Government’s aspiration is that 50% of new public appointments will be women by 2015. In 2012-13 37% of new public appointments were women.
	The Government has established the Centre for Public Appointments in the Cabinet Office to support and work with departments on all issues relating to the diversity of public appointments. Both the Commissioner and the Centre for Public Appointments are working with underrepresented groups to identify barriers to applications and recently hosted an event to encourage more applications from women. The Cabinet Office is also working on a plan to support Departments in increasing the diversity of applicants.

Railways: Franchises

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether in the forthcoming franchise competition for the East Coast Main Line they will set a reserve price below which no bid will be accepted; and what sanctions will apply should the successful franchise bidder fail to deliver its commitments.

Earl Attlee: The franchise competition will consider a range of criteria which will be described in the Invitation to Tender documents. We will consider all bids for affordability and value-for-money as part of this assessment.
	If a winning franchisee fails to deliver its commitments there will be a range of contractual mechanisms contained in the Franchise Agreement which may be applied.

Railways: Non-tilting Trains

Lord Clark of Windermere: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the estimated journey time from Euston to Glasgow using non-tilting trains to Birmingham and then on the non-high speed line northwards; and what is the present fastest journey time from Euston to Glasgow.

Earl Attlee: The estimated journey time for the new non-tilting high speed trains from Euston to Glasgow via the high speed line and then on the non-high speed line northwards is expected to be 240 minutes in 2026 when HS2 Phase 1 is operational. This is expected to reduce to 218 minutes in 2033 when HS2 Phase 2 is operational. The current fastest journey time from Euston to Glasgow is 248 minutes.

Railways: Pendolino Trains

Lord Clark of Windermere: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans there are to improve the track and signalling on the West Coast Main Line to allow the Pendolino trains to travel at a speed of 135 miles per hour.

Earl Attlee: The Government has invested in significant additional capacity on the West Coast Main Line with the introduction of 106 new Pendolino carriages during 2012.
	The Government currently has no plans to improve the track and signalling on the West Coast Main Line to allow Pendolino trains to travel at a speed of 135 miles per hour.

SS Richard Montgomery

Baroness Smith of Basildon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what role or responsibility (1) the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, (2) the Department for Transport, (3) the Ministry of Defence, (4) the Environment Agency, and (5) the Port of London Authority, have for monitoring and assessing the stability and safety of the SS Richard Montgomery in the Thames Estuary.

Earl Attlee: The UK Government does not own the wreck or the cargo. The wreck is designated as a dangerous wreck under section 2 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973, and this section of the Act is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Transport. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is responsible for marking and guarding the wreck. This is done through the identification of a prohibited area around the wreck which is marked by buoys, on charts and by contract for 24 hour radar and visual surveillance by Medway Ports. The Ministry of Defence provides expert technical advice in relation to the state and stability of the wreck and its cargo.
	Neither the Environment Agency nor the Port of London Authority has any responsibility for monitoring and assessing the safety and stability of the wreck.

Stephen Lawrence Inquiry

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 3 July (WA 233) and new allegations of smear campaign by different police constabularies around the time of the MacPherson Inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, whether they will commission an independent judge-led inquiry into the allegations.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Operation Herne has the competence to investigate the allegations of undermining and smearing of the reputations of witnesses and whistleblowers such as Mohammed Amran by the West Yorkshire Police and Charles Critchlow involving the Greater Manchester Constabulary; and how they intend to establish the facts in such cases.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Claims that undercover police may have targeted the Lawrence family and others involved in the Macpherson Inquiry are deeply shocking. It is vital that these allegations are rigorously investigated.
	The Home Secretary wrote to all forces in England and Wales on 3 July to ask them to check their records for any material that suggests intelligence or surveillance activity was ordered or carried out in relation to the Macpherson Inquiry, Stephen Lawrence's family or anyone connected to the Inquiry.
	Greater Manchester Police, West Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Police have already referred themselves to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). The IPCC is considering these referrals. Separately, Operation Herne, led by Derbyshire Constabulary Chief Constable Mick Creedon is investigating undercover deployments by a Metropolitan Police Unit—including the alleged deployment in relation to the Lawrence family. The Home Secretary will consider alternative forms of inquiry if that proves to be necessary.

Taxation: Avoidance

Baroness O'Cathain: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider re-examining their procurement policy to avoid doing business with companies that pay minimal amounts of United Kingdom tax.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Government is clear that aggressive tax avoidance is totally unacceptable, and we are closing loopholes, bringing in a new General anti-abuse rule, and investing additional funding to help HMRC clamp down on tax avoiders.
	The Government has introduced a new procurement policy that ensures government departments can exclude firms bidding for government contracts solely on the basis that they have been non-compliant in meeting their legal tax obligations. More information is at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175672/Tax_PPN_ March-13_v07Final.pdf

Trade Unions

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much was paid to the trade union Unite and its predecessor unions in relation to the Union Modernisation Fund and the Union Learning Fund in each year since the payments commenced; and what were the total payments to trade unions from those two funds respectively in each year since their commencement.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: Of the three rounds of the Union Modernisation Fund (UMF) programme between 2005-2013 the trade union Unite previously known as Amicus and Accord were paid a grant of £128,105.62 and £316,619.50 for projects under round one and round two respectively. They did not receive any funding under round three.
	Each round of the UMF covered a period of approximately two to three years.
	All UMF projects are now completed and there are no further rounds of the UMF programme planned.
	Since the commencement of the Union Learning Fund total payments made to the trade union Unite and its predecessor unions are as follows:
	
		
			  AMICUS AEEU MSF GPMU UNIFI T&G ACTS/T&G UNITE 
			 Yr. 1 = 1998  139500 80,135 97,000 56,400 50,000   
			 Yr. 2 = 1999  166,065 162,144 158,009 19,000 155,680   
			 Yr. 3 = 2000  246,350 343,720 345,535 68,200 201,236   
			 Yr. 4 = 2001  222,450 161,981 341,804 82,800 421,540   
			 Yr. 5 = 2002  1,325,481 835,361 889,889  426,128   
			 Yr. 6 = 2003  67,639 427,428 240,133 1,173,347 891,133   
			 Yr. 7 = 2004 1,478,900   1,781,950  588,933 301,400  
			 Yr. 8 = 2005  2,319,299   
			 Yr. 9 = 2006 3,414,517 863,600   
			 Yr. 10= 2007  1,091,336   
			 Yr. 11 =2008 3,134,897 2,359,299   
			 Yr. 12 =2009 
			 Yr. 13 =20102,330,042 
			 Yr. 14 =20112,301,960 
			 Yr. 15 =20121,680,022 
			 TOTAL 8,028,314 2,167,485 2,010,769 3,854,320 1,399,747 9,368,184 301,400 6,312,024

Turks and Caicos Islands

Lord Ashcroft: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are taking steps to ensure that commercial flights to the Turks and Caicos Islands will be maintained at the current levels; and what impact they expect any changes to the number of commercial flights to have on the financial recovery of the Islands.

Earl Attlee: The Government confirmed in the White Paper “The Overseas Territories – Security, Success and Sustainability” published last year that we are committed to promoting the interests of the Turks and Caicos Islands with respect to international scheduled air services in recognition of the fact that air services are important to the economic development of the Islands. The Department for Transport leads on air services negotiations with foreign Governments and actively involves interested parties from the Turks and Caicos Islands, seeking to enhance the commercial opportunities available. Ultimately, however, it is for the airlines themselves to determine, in the light of market conditions, the number of commercial services they operate.